Midterm 1

Question 1

Society of Experts

Answer 1

The theory that different parts of the brain each have different specialized capabilities that come together to form our overall perceptual experience.

Question 2

Coincidence Detectors

Answer 2

Term used to describe the fact that random activity cannot activate a neuron and that all the inputs need to come into a given neuron within about a msec for any action to occur. This acts to filter out random noise in the brain.

Question 3

Local cortical neurons tend to belong to this type.

Answer 3

Inhibitory

Question 4

Long-range neurons tend to be of this type.

Answer 4

Excitatory

Question 5

Equipotentiality

Answer 5

The incorrect theory that the brain is one diffuse organ that works all at once so individual parts of the brain do not have individual capabilities.

• Based on experiments with rats that showed that what parts of a brain that were removed didn’t affect performance (maze tasks), just the volume
• These findings could be because different functions were causing different deficits but sum total it generally hurt the ability of the rat to run the maze

Question 6

Module

Answer 6

A term for a group of neurons/section of the brain that works together to perform one function.

Question 7

Christopher Cherniak

Answer 7

Scientist who performed the component placement analysis of c. Elegans to determine if it’s arrangement was actually the most efficient arrangement possible.

Question 8

Ganglia

Answer 8

Structures containing a number of nerve cell bodies, typically linked by synapses.

Question 9

How are the ganglia in c. Elegans arranged which makes it such a good model organism for the component placement analysis?

Answer 9

Linearly

Question 10

NP (non-polynomial) problems

Answer 10

The traveling salesman and determining the efficiency of the nervous system are examples of this type of problem.

Question 11

What seems to be the limiting factor in component optimization of the mammalian cortex?

Answer 11

Spatial contiguity

Question 12

Corpus Callosum is evidence of what?

Answer 12

Acts as counter evidence for the argument that the mammalian brain is spatially optimized.
- Birds don’t have this structure because it would make their brain too heavy for them to fly

Question 13

Robust statistics

Answer 13

Mechanism by which we average all the images that we have seen in order to determine what the most likely continuation of a line is so that no matter what experiences each individual has, we all generally see the world the same way.

Question 14

Radial Unit Model

Answer 14

Model for cortical development that shows that neurons are born from the ventricular zone and crawl up the glia where the earliest neurons drop at the bottom of cortical columns so that the newest neurons end up at the top of the cortex and the deepest layers consist of the oldest neurons.

Question 15

Ventricular Zone

Answer 15

Where neurons are born before they migrate up the glia according to the radial unit model.

Question 16

Pruning decreases the volume of what type of brain tissue?

Answer 16

Grey matter

Question 17

Broadbent

Answer 17

Scientist who created the first behavioral model that is very similar to what we use today.

Question 18

Central Executive

Answer 18

Biggest addition we have made to Broadbent’s behavioral model since its conception, which is what decides what the filter will attend to.

Question 19

Episodic Memory

Answer 19

Type of memory associated with ego where a person remembers themself doing something and they are the center of the memory.

Question 20

Semantic Memory

Answer 20

Memories in which the subject has the facts but can’t remember learning/doing it, so they have access to the knowledge but can’t remember details of when/how it was learned.
Ex: You can’t remember when you learned that 2+2 = 4, but you know it to be true.

Question 21

Procedural Memory

Answer 21

Memory associated with actions that often don’t have a conscious component to them.

Question 22

Aggregate Field Theory

Answer 22

The notion that the whole brain participates in behavior– equipotentiality.

Question 23

Cytoarchitectonics

Answer 23

The study of how cells differ between brain regions.

Question 24

Brodmann

Answer 24

Scientist who pioneered cytoarchitectonics.

Question 25

Neuron doctrine

Answer 25

The concept that the nervous system is made up of individual cells.

Question 26

Associatism

Answer 26

The theory that the aggregate of a person’s experience determines the course of mental development.

Question 27

Behaviorism

Answer 27

The idea that the brain is a blank slate that can be molded to respond in a certain way. (Little Albert experiment of Watson show this)

Question 28

Spines

Answer 28

Little knobs attached by small necks to the surface of dendrites where the dendrites receive inputs from other neurons.

Question 29

Axon collaterals

Answer 29

Branched axons that can transmit signals to more than one cell.

Question 30

Corticocortical Connections

Answer 30

Connections from the cortex to the cortex (first part = source, second part = target)

Question 31

Neural circuits

Answer 31

Groups of interconnected neurons that process specific kinds of information.

Question 32

Neural systems

Answer 32

Combinations of neural circuits.

Question 33

Autonomic Nervous System

Answer 33

The NS involved in controlling the involuntary action of smooth muscles, the heart and various glands.

Question 34

Sympathetic Nervous System

Answer 34

Division of the autonomic nervous system responsible for fight or flight responses.

Question 35

Parasympathetic Nervous System

Answer 35

Division of the autonomic nervous system responsible for rest and digest responses.

Question 36

Commisures

Answer 36

Axons tracts that cross over into another layer.

Question 37

Foramen

Answer 37

Openings in the vertebral column where spinal nerves pass in and out of the spinal cord.

Question 38

Ventral Horn

Answer 38

Part of the spinal cord that contains large motor neurons that project to muscles.

Question 39

Dorsal Horn

Answer 39

Part of the spinal cord that contains sensory neurons and interneurons.

Question 40

Medulla

Answer 40

Part of the hindbrain responsible for motor innervations to the face, neck, abdomen and throat (motor nuclei that innervate the heart too)

Question 41

Pons

Answer 41

Part of the hindbrain that acts as the main connection between the brain and cerebellum. Also generates REM sleep.

Question 42

Betz’s Cells

Answer 42

Large neurons that can be up to several feet long and run down the spinal cord.

Question 43

Neurulation

Answer 43

The process by which ectodermal cells on the dorsal surface of the blastocell form the neural plate.

Question 44

Synaptogenesis

Answer 44

The formation of new synapses and growth of dendrite trees throughout development. This process follows the pattern of neurogenesis with the inner layers developing first.

Question 45

Syanpse Elimination

Answer 45

The process that follows synaptogenesis to get rid of redundant and unused connections and continues for more than a decade.